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Friday, 8 May 2015

Arcade Block April 2015

Today I'm going to show you what was in the April Arcade Block. After the debacle with the Nerd Block Classic and the decision to cancel, I was unsure if I was going to become negatively biased towards Nerd Block products, luckily, the Arcade Block has never been a disappointment and this month didn't change that.

So, without further ado, here are the items in this month's block.

Pac-Man Salt and Pepper Shakers

'Two of Pac-Man's greatest foes have made their way to your dining table! Don't worry, they're not causing trouble this time. Shake these ghosts over your meals to add some flavour to your food and to spark some nerdy conversation at your next dinner party!'

OMG, I am so happy with these. Believe it or not, I have been on a hunt for some decent, nerdy salt and pepper shakers for the last few months. over the years, as a semi functioning adult, I have bought many a 'normal people' salt and pepper shaker set that was just, well, shit to say the least. They either didn't work to begin with, clogged or too much came out. In fact, I have bought 3 different sets since around September last year and each set had one of those problems, the most recent set, spilled all the salt out from the rim anytime you tipped it up.

So, deciding that normal people stuff just wasn't functioning correctly for me on this occasion, I decided to go novelty and nerdy. I had narrowed it down to these exact Pac-Man ones and Star Wars R2-D2 and R2-Q5, so I was super stoked when these were pulled from the block.

There is a little bit of an imperfection on Blinky's eye where it looks like some of his red paint got smudge, but I don't even care, these are awesome.

Skylanders Vinyl Figure: Whirlwind

'Bridging the gap between toy collectors and video game fans, Skylanders is a force to be reckoned with. Add this figure to your collection and to the game! The more you use the character in-game, the stoner it becomes. Collect and trade these among your friends!

We don't have any Skylanders games or figures, however, because this is a cool little vinyl figure, it would have likely gone on our shelves. I say would, purely because it looks like the glue had worn off the packaging and it was completely open, considering that Whirlwind is a series one figure, it is likely that these toys have been sat in a warehouse somewhere for a while and I could glue it back on but it's just a bit annoying. I might end up donating it to a friend that plays Skylanders. Still a good little figure though just a shame about the packaging

Video Games Live: Level 4

'You don't have to travel the world with Video Games Live to enjoy the touring orchestra's creative take on the classic and contemporary game music, because we've brought the music to you! This exclusive edition of their latest album, "Level 4" includes two tracks that are EXCLUSIVE to Arcade Block!'

This is pretty cool, we are all gamers in this house and we appreciate good game music so this CD will likely get a lot of use. This is a really good item to have in the Arcade Block.

Treasure Chest Zipper Pull

'It's dangerous to go alone- and now you won't have to! Simply add this treasure chest zipper pull to your favourite jacket, hoodie, or backpack to get that thrilling feeling of finding a new treasure chest wherever you go!'

This is so cute. Straight away, I was tempted to turn this into a necklace. This is another Arcade Block exclusive and another item that I am really happy with.

RETRO Magazine Issue #7

'Each issue of RETRO is jam packed with content written by game industry icons and journalists covering the very best in interactive entertainment from the classics of the yesteryear to the blockbusters of today.'

This is another good item and again, exactly the kind of item that I would hope to find in a video game themed block.

Kingdom Hearts T-Shirt

'Show your fandom for Kingdom Hearts with this exclusive ShirtPunch t-shirt only for Arcade Block subscribers! Love this shirt? Check out ShirtPunch.com for more pop culture tee goodness! They have four new designs every day!'

Initially, I was a little bit miffed about the t-shirt, not the design, but the size. We were getting it in Youth size L for Ki, but he gets his t-shirts in his subscription and I get t-shirts in my size from Loot Crate but Jim was left out and not getting any of the cool t-shirts, so last month, I changed the size to Men's XL. Low and behold, the Block turns up and it is still Youth size L. Luckily Jim isn't really into Kingdom Hearts so he doesn't really care but I have emailed Nerd Block just to double check that it will be changed for the next Arcade Block, I'll let you know how it goes in next month's post.

Prices wise, I scoured the internet (not really, I Googled and stuff came up straight away) for prices of the exact, or similar items and I will lay them down in this post just so you know, you know?

Video Games Live Level 4- Amazon UK- Digital £7.49 There was no Level 4 CD although a Level 2 CD is priced at £19.93

Treasure Chest Zipper Pull- Amazon UK- £18.54 ok, so being an exclusive I couldn't find this to buy but I found several Marvel zipper pulls for this price but I also found several zipper pulls of different brands ranging from £3 to £10 but we'll say this branded price for now

So altogether (using digital Level 4 price) this comes to £51.40 and we paid £21.91 including postage. Even if you reduce the cost of the zipper pull because nearly £20 for a friggin' zip is quite the rip off, it's still a fair amount higher than what we pay. All in all, I think that is a pretty good haul, even though I was happy with the block before working out the prices anyway and these are the types of items I like to see in this type of subscription, if they could just improve on the vinyl figure a little bit, it would be almost perfect.

If you would like to subscribe to Arcade Block you can do so by going here!